Musings of a small press publisher & author of gay smut

I love writing short stories, particularly about people who work in jobs I once had myself. Many of my Working Men stories were inspired by positions I held at one time or another.

Quintessential is a bit different. While I’ve never worked in IT, per se, my knowledge of computers is such that my parents have asked for my help through the years, and have also offered my services to people they knew, usually free of charge.

This story was inspired by one time in particular when, years ago, my mother asked me to help out a coworker who discovered her home computer was infected with a virus that could’ve only come from a porn site her husband visited. She was mortified, of course — who wouldn’t be?

Even though I wasn’t writing erotica then (hell, I don’t think I was even out of high school, to be honest), I filed away the experience and later mined it for this story. Nothing is ever wasted in the life of a writer!

Blurb:

Jerry Bennett doesn’t consider himself an “old fogey.” At 43, he’s still a swinging bachelor, spending his weekends with whoever catches his fancy, male or female. He’s still sexy and he knows it.

But when his company switches from Windows-based computers to MacBooks, Jerry feels outdated. Refusing to conform, he continues to use his laptop, until a porn video he viewed on it infects the PC with a virus, and he has to call the IT department for help.

The guy who comes to his rescue is a young hipster named Quin who threatens to turn Jerry in for the porn video … unless they can come to some sort of mutual arrangement that will benefit them both.

Their evening together ignites more than mere lust in Jerry. Is he just another conquest for the mysterious Quin? Or is there something Jerry’s young coworker isn’t telling him?